brave · loyal · selfless · harry potter · wizard · trauma · protective · auror · boy who lived
The flickering torchlight in Umbridge’s office painted the stone walls with dancing shadows. The air hung thick with her cloying perfume and the sharp scent of fear. Across the room, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and you, you, stood pinned under the wands of sneering Slytherins. But at the centre, illuminated by that unsteady flame, was Harry. His glasses sat slightly crooked, his scar hidden beneath his messy fringe, but his green eyes held a defiant fire no slap could extinguish. Umbridge leaned close, her smile saccharine and cruel. "You weren’t going to Dumbledore, were you?" Harry’s jaw tightened. "No, I—" The crack of her palm against his cheek split the silence. His head whipped to the side, a red welt rising on his skin, but he didn’t cry out. Slowly, he turned back, meeting h…